


You Are Enough For Me

by TheoryOfBL



Category: offgun
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, offgun- Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:14:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26644318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheoryOfBL/pseuds/TheoryOfBL
Summary: Gun has always doubted his worth and importance. But will things change when he starts tutoring a mysterious classmate, who decides to teach Gun how to love himself, and slowly fall in love with him too.
Relationships: Gun Atthaphan Phunsawat/JJ Kritsanapoom Pibulsonggram, New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun/Tay Tawan Vihokratana, Off Jumpol Adulkittiporn/Gun Atthaphan Phunsawat
Comments: 12
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter One

Gun's POV

It wasn't the first time he had changed schools in the middle of the year, but he had hoped this would be the last. He had started to believe that kids everywhere were the same - immature, hormonal and angsty. They rushed past him in their navy blue uniforms. Some gave him curious stares as he fumbled across the corridors, trying to find his designated classroom.

"Where do you think you're going, Nong?".

A teacher had appeared behind him. The corridor was more or less empty with the exception of him and the teacher.

"Umm... I'm trying to find room-128, I'm new here".

"It's the second room on the right". The teacher waited until he reached his classroom. The teacher hadn't arrived yet, and the kids in his class had already split into their respective cliques. He moved past the judgey teens with a smile on his face and seated himself in an empty seat in the middle of the class. They were looking at him, but he was used to it. He had always been the outsider.

"Hi, you must be new here, I'm New."

"Hey, you're new too?"

"Oh no, my name is Thitipoom, but you can call me New."

"Oh ok." The guy that stood in front of him, New, was a tall, well-built dude, about 5'7", way bigger than Gun's short frame. He was extremely pale, almost like a Japanese geisha. "So how's been school so far?".

"Nothing much, I was pretty much wandering around, trying to look for this room."

"Yeah, the classroom allotment is quite random for some reason." He explained. New sat down in the seat beside his. Gun observed as New pulled out a stack of test papers and started correcting them. " Do students here help in grading papers?" Gun asked. He had been to many schools, and the teachers everywhere didn't trust the students to grade papers. "Oh this? These are from the students I tutor."

"Tutor?" Gun never had the chance to teach anyone before, although the idea had always seemed intriguing to him. He was a bright student. He didn't let his rootlessness bring down his grades. The last thing he wanted was to give his parents another reason to be disappointed with him. Also, he didn't want to lose his opportunity at getting a scholarship for university.

"Yup, our school has a peer-to-peer teaching system. They believe that we can learn more from our classmates than our teachers."

"Are they right?"

"Oh god no, it's just an excuse to put more work on us." New laughed and so did Gun. "but it does look good on college applications, so I do it." that caught Gun's attention. He was looking for some way to spruce up his college applications. He had participated in some extra-curriculars in his other schools, but he didn't get much credit because he moved away.

"OH MY GOD, SETTLE DOWN. GO BACK TO YOUR SEATS."

A woman entered the room, wearing the brightest yellow pantsuit he had ever seen. "Good morning, Ms. Godji." The students answered in a monotonous voice. "Yeah, yeah, good morning kids." she huffed and fell down on her seat as she started skimming through the papers in her hand.

"Is she always this loud?" Gun asked New. The woman was presumably his homeroom teacher. She had makeup on and her dark black hair was in a bun, tied with a matching bright yellow bow. "Pretty much, she's one of the more energetic teachers" New said. "but she is very entertaining."

When Ms. Godji was done reading her papers, she jumped out of her seat. "It seems we have a new student in our class, a certain Atthaphan Phunsuwat."

He got out of his seat and walked to the front of the class. He had done this numerous times and this time wouldn't be any different. "Hello, my name is Atthaphan Phunsuwat, but you can call me Gun. Please take care of me." He politely smiled at his peers. He started adjusting his glasses when saw his classmates silently judging him as he stood there.

"Well, Gun we are delighted to have you here, you may return to your seat."

\------------------------------------------------

The first half of the day was quite mundane. He had gotten acquainted with New as well as his best friend Alice, who was quite the gossip. "OMG, Did you know Tay Tawan just broke up with Mint. She must be heartbroken, I heard that she really liked him."

"For fuck's sake Alice, you really need to mind your own business"

"Aww, is lover boy angry at hearing rumors about his boyfriend."

"Firstly, he is not my boyfriend and secondly, I have a schoolgirl crush on him, nothing more."

"I have text conversations which say otherwise." Alice started to show Gun a series of texts, but before he could read anything, New had already grabbed the phone out of her hand. "Hey, give me back my phone."

"Catch me and I'll give it to you." New got up and dashed out of the room with Alice following pursuit. Gun found them entertaining. He was about to follow them to the cafeteria for lunch when suddenly Ms. Godji called him to her desk.

"Gun, your transcripts say that you're a high scorer."

"Oh, they do?" Gun faked. He had made sure that his transcripts were perfect.

"Yes, and I'm quite impressed. For a kid, who moves around so much, to keep up with his studies is quite rare. You must be intelligent."

"Th... Thank you." Gun flustered. He wasn't particularly good with compliments. His parents rarely gave him any and it made him unaccustomed to be on the receiving end of compliments. Although, that didn't mean he hated them, on the contrary it would always be the highlight of his day if someone appreciated his efforts.

" Well, I was thinking that you should try to volunteer for our school's peer-to-peer education program. It's unique to our institution... and colleges love someone who is responsible." she was quite the salesperson, Gun noticed. Academically-inclined students would jump at the chance to add something to their list of achievements. The sales tactic worked on Gun. He asked her where he could volunteer for the program.

"You need to go to the library and speak to Ms. Jennie, she's responsible for the allotment of tutors. She can answer any questions that you have", saying this she put on her headphones and bobbed to Kpop while eating her lunch. New was true to his word, she was entertaining.

Gun left the classroom and veered off to find his locker so that he could leave his books before going for lunch. He scanned the hall until he found his new locker. He was trying to open his locker when suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder and shoved him towards the wall. Before the perpetrator could say anything, Gun's instincts kicked in. He slapped the person in the face and with all the force in his tiny body, kicked him in the crotch.

"Fuuuuuck..." the person collapsed on to the floor grabbing the place where Gun hit him. The students in the corridor turned to stare at him. They were whispering amongst themselves.

"Oh my god, I'm really sorry. Are you ok?" Gun squatted down to the guy's level and asked. The guy looked up. Gun was taken aback for a bit. His hair was in a middle parting and sparkled when sunlight hit it. His pale skin was almost translucent, and contrasted his pitch black leather jacket . The only thing that stood out were his nostrils. They were a bit large for his face, but Gun found it cute.

The guy had beautiful small eyes. But they had an emptiness in them that disturbed Gun.

"Yeah... that's my locker you're messing with..." Gun quickly turned around. _63_ not _64_. "Oh, Shit", gun said out loud, garnering a slight chuckle from the boy behind him. "Yeah, shit."

"I'm really sorry that was just an instinct"

"Don't worry, I shouldn't have pushed you against..." he was about to continue but he stopped when he moved his eyes from the ground to Gun. He stared at Gun for what seemed a while before he suddenly got up and walked into the crowd.

Gun stood up and stared at his shrinking silhouette. "What a strange guy" Gun whispered to himself. _But cute_ , he thought before keeping his books in his locker and wandering out to search for New and Alice.

\------------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so this is my first time writing a fanfic so please don't mind if the writing is not that up to the mark. I am sure it will improve over time. I hope to upload every 3-4 days. Please do give me feedback so I can improve the quality of my writing. Enjoy Reading! :)


	2. Chapter Two

"So that is Ms.Jennie, the librarian?" Gun was standing at the entrance of the library with New and Alice after school. "Aren't librarians supposed to be kind, old ladies?"

"Stop with the stereotypes." New scolded him. He was helping Gun with the application process for the tutoring program. So far he had filled in the form but he was yet to submit it to the librarian who would assign him to his student.

"Oh, I heard that she's quite the shipper. She constantly pairs off students she thinks look cute together." Alice was staring into her phone, scrolling through the text messages which provided her with the gossip on everyone. "She was the one who paired me with my boo." Alice finally lifted her eyes up from her phone. She had a boyfriend named Arm whom he hadn't met yet. Alice was also a part of the program, and was by far the best english tutor at the school. "I trust her matchmaking skills".

"We aren't here for getting Gun a date." New smacked Alice on the head.

"Oh boo-hoo, buzzkill much."

New rolled his eyes at her and turned to Gun."Have you thought about the subjects you wanna teach?"

"Hmm, I was thinking physics and chemistry"

"Yeah, I guess they would be in demand." with that they slowly glided towards the aforementioned librarian who was surrounded by posters of the famous bl couples in Thailand. Currently, she was staring into her computer and giggling profusely.

"Hi, where can I submit this form?"

"Hehehe, you know you love him Type."

"Uh, hello?

"Why don’t you just confess?"

"HELLOOO." Alice suddenly shouted from the back. It startled Ms. Jennie. She quickly paused her video and looked up. "Oh, if it isn't my favourite tutors."

"Hi, Ms. Jennie, this is Gun, he wants to volunteer for the program." She quickly turned to Gun and squealed. "He's soooo cute. Especially with those glasses." Gun adjusted his glasses quickly and replied,"Umm, thanks." Gun must have been looking awkward because Ms. Jennie immediately moved on from the topic.

"So you want to apply."

"Yes ma'am."

"You have your form with you?"

Gun gave her his form. She read through it and filled in some details into her computer. "Okaaaay, well there are quite a few students who need physics and chemistry tutors so it will take a day for me to assign you your student." She looked up from the screen."why don’t you come back tomorrow during lunch, I'll give you your schedule and you can start after school?"

"Okay I will." Gun gave her his best smile. "Aww you're so cute just like a character from a yaoi novel." With that she went back to watching her series and began giggling again.

"Are all teachers in this school like this?"

"Oh, you bet." He bid New and Alice goodbye since they had their tutoring sessions after school. 

He was walking towards the school gate when suddenly he noticed something. Two seniors were arguing quite loudly. They were about to start fighting, when Gun suddenly interfered. "STOP!!"

"It's none of your business runt."

"I know, it's just that I think I saw a teacher coming this way," He said in his most calming voice. "and I don’t want either of you to get into trouble." The guy who had called him a runt suddenly looked concerned, he scanned his surroundings and ran in the opposite direction when he thought he heard footsteps. Gun hated fights and felt disturbed when he saw others fighting. He had made it a point to stop any arguments or confrontations that occurred around him.

"Thanks, I'm sure I would've gotten my ass kicked if we started fighting" The guy behind spoke. "and I really don’t want to get into any more trouble." Gun looked at the boy speaking. He was taller than him, but so were most humans. He had light pink hair like cotton candy. His eyes were small, reminding him of the stranger who he had kicked yesterday. _He's cute too,_ Gun noticed, _but not as cute as locker-boy._ Gun internally scoffed at himself for being so shallow and constantly comparing people, but he couldn't help himself, it was just how he was.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, he just pushed me around, he wanted to start a fight."

"Why would he want to fight someone randomly?"

"He thinks that I framed him and might have gotten him suspended. So he wants to take revenge."

"Well, did you frame him?"

"Oh god no, he just assumed I did cause we had a fight last year and he thinks I have a grudge against him." Gun stared at the guy curiously, usually he was very good at reading people and understanding what they expected from him, but something about this guy made him doubt his abilities. He had a sort of poker face, he spoke with confidence, not faltering even once. He had a sly smirk on him the entire time, like he was constantly plotting.

"I don't think I've seen you before. What's your name?"

"It's Gun, I just started school today."

"Oh okay, I'm Jaylerr by the way. Nice to meet you. Gun." He paused before he said Gun's name, making it sound like a secret which only they knew. It may even have been flirting, but he stopped himself from overthinking too much. "I'll see you around, Bye."

"Bye." Jaylerr turned and walked in the direction that Gun came from. Gun stared at his back while he walked away. There was something about the boy that made him feel a little confused.

And Gun didn't like that.

\------------------------------------------------

Gun was alone on the street. It was a new city, but he was accustomed to walking back home. He had a basic idea of where his new home was. The roads in this city were a bit confusing, they signs were either faded or not there at all. He walked around the new neighbourhoods, thinking or more accurately, overthinking about the day's events.

He had made friends almost immediately and it had irked him that they liked his demeanour when usually kids would just label him as a bore. _They are correct._ He often thought why anyone would want to be friends with him.

His sole aim in life was to be independent and to move far away. This meant that he concentrated more on his grades rather than his hobbies. He did have a few hobbies like music and design, but he had given up on them when he realised than none of them would help him achieve his goal. He had tried multiple times to rekindle his passions, but to no avail. He finally gave up and accepted them as memories of his past.

Gun realised that he had been wandering around for about an hour when he checked his watch. He looked at his surroundings and was shocked to be in a strange neighbourhood.

He tried retracing his steps but had to finally give up. He was almost about to cry, realising that he was lost and his parents would be mad at him, they had just started work and were already under a lot of pressure. They wouldn't appreciate their child getting lost in a strange city. His parents weren't like others. They wouldn't be worried if he got lost all alone, but would rather be angry at his absent-mindedness.

He was contemplating on what to do now, when suddenly he heard a honk behind him.

He moved his head to face a man sitting on a motorcycle, fully clad in black. Gun's instincts told him to run but he stood there frozen. It was as if his won feet weren't in his control. The man flipped open his visor to reveal his eyes. His eyes looked familiar, but before Gun could place him, he spoke up.

"Are you lost?"

"Y-yeah-ah"

"Where are you trying to go?"

Gun thought whether he should tell the stranger where he lived. He looked around, the street was empty except for the two of them. He could run but he concluded that the man could catch him on his motorbike. So in his shy, soft voice he answered, "June's café…"

Gun decided not to tell him his address but the name of a shop near his home.

"June's is about twenty blocks south of here, you're walking in the wrong direction." the man pointed towards the shop. " You must be quite shit at navigating." the man scoffed.

"HEY!!" Gun protested, but he stopped himself before he said anything more. He regained his composure and politely thanked him, plastering on his fake smile.

"Hehe."

"What is it?"

"Nothing." The stranger restarted his bike. "It's just that you look cute when you're angry." With that he closed his visor and sped ahead, leaving Gun flustered in the middle of the road.

\------------------------------------------------

Gun rushed back home. He hoped that his parents had not reached before him, but his hopes were shattered when he noticed that the lights of his house were switched on.

He let himself in. He tried to avoid his parents and was about to race up to his room when he heard a cough coming from the living room. Feeling defeated, he slowly walked towards his parents who sat silently on the couch. He could see that his mother was angry, she always got angry when Gun made mistakes, but it was his father who spoke to him.

"Haven't I told you before that you're not a kid anymore, that you have certain responsibilities now."

"Yes, Por."

"Then why is it that you always find new ways to make us lose our trust in you." His dad spoke in a calm and robotic manner. He never scolded Gun, which had always confused him. He would just look at him in a dejected way. It broke him into millions of pieces, it was worse than any scolding he had ever received.

"I'm sorry, It's just that I-I got lost…"

"I refuse to believe that a young man of 17 can get lost. You're not some dumb toddler."

"I'm sorry." Gun wanted to defend himself, but he knew it would be in vain. It would just result in him angering his parents more, which would lead to situations he would rather avoid.

"Go back to your room, and make sure that this never happens again." his father finally looked him in the eye. Gun saw the anger in his eyes. He apologised again and walked up to his room.

That night his house was unquiet with the voices of his parents fighting echoing throughout. It wasn't unusual that his parents were fighting. It happened quite often. He heard his mother screaming at his father for not punishing him. His father told her that he had more important matters to worry about than an irresponsible kid.

Gun wished sometimes that he wasn't such a disappointment, that one day his parents would be proud of him.

He pulled his blanket over his head, trying to hide the tears flowing down his silent face, while his whimpers were masked by the shouting in the background.

\------------------------------------------------


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TRIGGER WARNING**
> 
> This chapter contains mentions of panic attacks and anxiety issues. Please do not read further if you feel you may get triggered by the following.
> 
> I know that everyone has their own experiences with anxiety and panic attacks, this is based on my own experience with it. I mean no disrespect to others who have had to deal with mental health issues. Su su na :))

"Sooooo, I have assigned you your student. He's going to meet you at two-thirty in Room 216." Gun was in the library. He was waiting for Ms. Jennie to give him all the details so that he could return to New and Alice who were waiting for him in the cafeteria. "I have to warn you, he is a bit anti-social and quite difficult to deal with."

"Oh, I don’t think that would be a problem really." Gun smiled at her. He didn't want to seem like an uptight student.

"See the thing is that he's a smart kid but he rarely communicates or cooperates with anyone. Usually, it's fine but it does make it difficult to teach him. You're his 4th tutor. We don’t know what we can do for him after this." she sighed. Ms. Jennie might have been a bit quirky, but she had a good soul. She obviously cared for this boy and Gun didn’t want to disappoint her.

"I will try my best to help him, ma'am."

"Oh I knew that I could trust you, you have that vibe around you." she motioned the air around him.

She gave him his schedule along with a few other papers so that he could prepare for the session. "This doesn't mention a name."

"Oh I like it to be a surprise when you two meet." she had a sly smile on her face. Gun awkwardly smiled back at her. The student's file said that he needed help in physics and chemistry. He needed to pass these subjects so that he can continue playing in the school football. What seemed weird was that he had an almost perfect score in visual arts, so he must be smart, just not very motivated I guess.

"I think you should go, I've already taken half of your lunch break." Ms. Jennie was on her phone, on twitter it seemed. Apparently, one of her ships had an interview ,with several cute moments.

Gun thanked Ms. Jennie who gave him a nod of acknowledgement, before continuing with her rage tweeting.

He left the library and walked across the courtyard towards the cafeteria. The design of this new school was quite unique. Unlike his previous schools, it had a huge central courtyard which was surrounded by classrooms. Gun stopped in the middle of the courtyard and basked in the sunlight. He had been stuffed inside his classroom for the past few hours and this made him feel liberated.

Suddenly, he saw movement through the corner of his eye. He tilted his head and covered his eyes to see who it was. All he could find was a retreating figure of a glowing white face shrouded in black.

_Is it an angel?_

Gun laughed out loud and immediately brushed off the thought. His hunger combined with the heat from the sun must have made him see hallucinations of mythical creatures.

He checked his watch. "Fuck I'm late." with that he ran down the courtyard towards the cafeteria.

\------------------------------------------------

He met up with his friends after lunch in their class. He reached late and they had already left for class by then.

"So when do you have your first class?" Alice asked him when he sat down.

"Today at 2.30"

"Hmm, I think all of us will be done by the same time. If y'all want we can go to the mall after the session and hang out."

"Yeah sure." Gun liked his new friends, although he only got to know them a day back. They had similar interests as him and they had the same sense of humour. He had wanted to make friends before, but in his previously schools the kids who had the same aspirations as him were very boring and the interesting kids treated him like any other nerd.

"Hey, I just realised we don’t have your number." New pointed out. Gun immediately wrote down his number on a piece of paper and passed it on to New and Alice. "Here, now you have it." he smiled at them.

"HELLURR, SETTLE DOWN."

"Good morning Ms. Godji." The monotonous greeting gave him déjà vu. But before he could say anything to his friends, his eyes fell on Ms. Godji, who was wearing a white pantsuit with a bright silver headwrap and obnoxious hoop earrings.

"Oh my god." he heard from New sitting beside him. "Where does she even get these outfits?" His classmates were equal parts amused and in awe of her outfit, but she paid no heed to their open mouths.

"So, the school administration has made a decision on the location of the graduating class' trip." he could hear murmurs around. Both New and Alice suddenly straightened their backs and looked at their teacher with an excited expression.

Ms. Godji produced an envelope and waved it around like a flag of victory. She proceeded to tear the letter open in a very unconventional manner. She grabbed on the one end of the envelope with her hand and the other with her teeth, then she yanked open letter with her teeth. It looked a bit barbaric.

"Was that really necessary?" Alice asked from behind Gun.

"Is it ever?" he heard New.

"I swear she either belongs on the Drag race or the discovery channel. There is literally no in between. " both of them chuckled at Gun's comment.

"We are going to…" Ms. Godji had unfolded the piece of paper and was now pausing for dramatic effect. Her pause was a bit too long because someone shouted from the back.

"OH MY GOD, TELL US."

"…HUA HIN!!" she truly did not care about other people's comments. Gun was jealous of her because of that.

Everyone got excited. He even heard a few cheers from the back of the class. New told him the reason that they were so ecstatic was that they expected to go for a field trip to some museum like last year's graduating class, and this was definitely an upgrade.

"Yaaay, we'll get so many good pics, we can wear coordinated outfits." Alice was definitely excited about the prospect of a beach trip.

"Coordinated?" New asked.

"Yeah like matching swimsuits or hats…"

"or Hawaiian shirts." Gun suggested.

"I like the way you think Gun ja."

They laughed and spent the rest of the day discussing outfits for the beach. He felt relaxed. Usually, he would just keep to himself but he was starting to open up to these friends of his. He even started participating in the exchanges between New and Alice. They didn't seem to mind him but rather appreciated his comments.

He suddenly felt a bit empty. He wondered why didn’t he make an effort to make friends before. Maybe he could have had more moments like this in his life.

_Why would anyone want to be friends with you?_

The words echoed in his mind. _You're just a boring loner who doesn't deserve friends._ The thoughts came to him instantly. They always did. _You flatter yourself by thinking that these strangers are your friends._ His eyes had become heavy, but his face was frozen. He knew that he had to get out of the classroom.

"Ms. Godji, I need to go to the washroom. "

\------------------------------------------------

Gun's feet began running the moment he left the room. The water in his eyes were at their tipping point and the pain in his chest was slowly building up. His legs carried him as fast as they could, but he had a sudden realisation that he didn't know where to go. The washrooms were always occupied and all the classrooms were being used during school hours.

He felt lost. He had to find a place for himself. With nowhere else to go, he ran up the steps. He cimed the steps until he reached a floor which was relatively empty. By this point, the tears had already rolled down his cheeks. He stumbled into the closest room, hoping that no one would see him. He immediately collapsed as the door closed behind him.

 _Why are you hiding? It's not like they care that you are crying. They will console because that's what they are taught to do. No one actually cares whether you are hurting or not.'_ Pain from his chest spread until his entire body felt it. It was unlike any injury he had received.

"P-P-Please st-top."

He said it hoping that his body would comply. But like every time it happens, his body refused to stop hurting him. He grabbed at his chest, trying to find a way to end this.

His tears were now falling on the floor beside him. He opened his mouth to scream, but stopped. _Screaming will put all the attention on you, and that’s what you want, don’t you? All the attention in the world._ He didn’t know whether his thoughts were accurate, but they were effective enough to stop him from making any sounds.

He sat there frozen. His thoughts attacking him, and is body torturing him. He wished it would stop. At that moment he wanted everything to stop. He had thought of killing himself before, but every time he brushed off the thought. Recently, though it had been getting worse. As was evident from his current state.

"Please help me", his words were barely whispers now. " Please…" he couldn’t continue speaking. His words were taken over by the sobs building up inside him.

"Don’t worry, you'll be okay. I'm here with you." Gun lifted his eyes from the ground. He found himself staring into someone's eyes.

 _Not just someone_. They were the same empty eyes he had been seeing everywhere.

\------------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy, I hope you guys are liking this story till now. I promise there are going to be cute moments for the fluff-hungry readers hehe. Please let me know your suggestions and i will try and incorporate them. 
> 
> P.S. Who is excited for the new Offgun song. I'm literally dying here asdgfsjedgkl.


	4. Chapter Four

Gun was surprised to say the least.

He thought that no one could hear him and he was alone on this floor.

_So now you're going to beg for attention from him as well._

Gun's thoughts were ruthless. Over the years he'd taught himself to doubt every single person that came across him. It had made him lose many old friends and destroyed any prospects of new friendships. And this time wasn't going to be any different. His face suddenly turned cold and he hastily wiped off his tears.

"I'm fine."

The boy looked a bit taken aback by the sudden change in Gun's demeanour. "You're obviously not."

"Well, you don't tell me what to feel."

"I understand that, but I'm concerned about you."

_He doesn't even know you._

"You don't even know me." Gun voice was getting a bit loud, but he couldn't help but act this way.

"I don't have to know you to know that you're hurting." Gun was a bit surprised at his concern. It sounded genuine, which was new for Gun. Most of the people in his life faked their concern for him, for the sake of preventing any further breakdowns. That's why he had stopped crying in front of others a while ago. Even his own parents, who were supposed to 'care' for him, didn't acknowledge the fact that he was hurting.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay." He sat down beside Gun, _a bit too close_ he thought. But he didn't mind it. It had been a while since he had been this close to another human. Physical contact wasn't his thing, but for some reason he liked this closeness between them. They just sat there for a while with no words leaving either mouth. The silence wasn't awkward at all, it made it better somehow. It gave him the time to calm down.

"I'm Off, by the way."

"I'm Gun." Off didn't continue the conversation. He didn't have to. They were comfortable in each other's company. The air in the room was cold and the mutual warmth was nice. Gun started counting the things in the room, he had heard it was a useful coping mechanism, but unfortunately it was useless to him. But he still did it, it was distracting when he thought about how pointless it was.

While counting, he started noticing the little details of the room, like how it was painted grey instead of the dark blue which covered the entire school. All the furniture had a thin layer of dust, even the floor on which Gun sat on. The posters on the wall were tearing off and even the ones which were in place had lost their colour. There was a small hole in the top corner of the room which provided ventilation to the room. It allowed the cold breeze to enter.

With time, the room got colder. Gun noticed that they had subconsciously moved closer to each other. Their feet were now touching. He didn't know what came over him but he suddenly rested his head on Off's shoulder. What was more surprising was that Off didn't resist it. He let Gun be. Gun's tiny framed leaned on his tall one. They were like that for a long time. The feeling of resting his head on Off's shoulder was somehow much better than any pillow he had used and he let himself rest his swollen eyes.

It wasn't until the school's bell rang that they realised that they had fallen asleep. Off's head rested on Gun's and his hand was on Gun's knee. Gun immediately woke up at the sound of the bell, signifying that school was over. Gun resisted the urge to wake up, it was rare that he felt so utterly relaxed and unjudged. It was as if the expectations had suddenly vanished. But he knew he had to snap out of it eventually.

Off squirmed for a bit as Gun stood up and dusted himself. He didn't want to wake him up. He glanced at his face and realised that it looked a bit different. It was relaxed. He had noticed on the day he met him that his eyes had wrinkles most probably from stress. But now that he saw him again he noticed that they were gone. Off looked peaceful.

_Off._

Gun knew his name now and it made him a bit giddy. He didn’t know why though? It was different from the crushes he had before. Heck, he wasn't even sure whether this was a crush. Gun didn't feel jealous at how carefree the guy in front of him looked, usually he would internally curse the people who weren't as pressurised as him. But there was something about him…

Before he could ponder on the question a bit further, Gun remembered something. _The tutoring class, oh shit._ He was going to be late if he didn't leave now. He contemplated whether he should wake Off up, but he looked too relaxed and he didn’t want to steal that from him. He let him be and slowly backed out of the room so as to not make any sound.

Before leaving he took another glimpse of the boy inside and smiled. _His name is Off._

\------------------------------------------------

"Where were you? We were looking for you all over the place." New scolded him as he reached the classroom to grab his books. "We thought you got into trouble since you weren't in the washroom." Gun didn't know how to react to their concerns. Usually people wouldn't notice when he would disappear, unless they needed him for something.

"I was just wandering around… and sort of fell asleep in an empty classroom." Gun didn't feel like lying to them about his whereabouts. After his encounter with Off he felt a bit optimistic. He suddenly wanted to try and make at least one of his friendships last.

"Where did you even find an empty classroom. I thought all of them were occupied."

"Umm, a few on the top floor were empty."

"Oh okay."

He thought New was done but then he continued.

"So, you spent 2 hours sleeping by yourself."

"Ooooh, or was it 'with' someone." New slapped Alice on the head for that comment.

"Actually…"

"Obviously Gun didn't sleep with a stranger," New's voice drowned out Gun's. "he literally doesn’t know anyone at this school." Gun decided to not tell New and Alice for now. He felt that it would only lead to more questions, and as of now Gun didn't have answers to any of them.

They walked towards the library, New and Alice tutored their students in classrooms near the library so he accompanied them. They had moved on from the topic of Gun's absence and were now talking about whether or not they will be allowed to stay the night at Hua Hin. He had forgotten about the trip.

"So when is this trip anyway?"

"it's after the final exams, the dates won't been finalised until all the permission slips have been submitted. Oh wait one second… " New pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "I grabbed a form for you."

"By the way the due date is in a month, so turn it in like asap." Alice intervened.

"Hmm k…" Gun wasn't sure whether he would go for the trip. He would need his parent's permission, but they would only allow if they were in a good mood. But considering the recent move, it was going to be a long time before they would mellow up.

They were closing in on the library so Gun said his goodbyes to his friends.

"Remember we have to go to the mall after class." Alice reminded him.

"Yeah, I remember". Gun smiled back at them as he walked away. He went up to the second floor where he assumed was Room 216. After searching for it for what seemed a while, he found his classroom. He stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. _Tutor Gun huh._

He was nervous, he had helped out classmates before but he had not properly taught anyone. _What if him teaching would make the guy worse?_ He didn't want to responsible for anyone else's failure.

_Good students don’t necessarily make good teachers._

That was it for Gun, he was going to turn around and tell Ms. Jennie that he can't volunteer anymore.

He was about to leave when suddenly he heard the voice of footsteps from inside. "He's inside." Gun was late so it wasn’t a surprise that the student had already reached the designated classroom. He contemplated whether he should leave or not. If he left now, it would seem rude and the guy could tell everyone that. His reputation was at stake. Also, he had assured Ms. Jennie that he would not be deterred. He didn't want to disappoint her.

Gun scoffed at himself for being so moody.

He sucked in all the bad thoughts and put on his brightest smiles. He was going to teach this kid no matter what. He opened the door and entered. "So I'm your new tutor, my name is Gun…"

Gun paused when his eyes met with the other's.

"Jaylerr?"

\------------------------------------------------


	5. Chapter Five

"Jaylerr?"

"Oh, hey Gun." the boy looked up. Gun was surprised he could remember his name. Most people would forget him the second their interaction was over. Or worse, they would call him a by a totally different name. he hated those types of interactions because it would only solidify the fact that he was forgettable.

"What are you doing here?" Jaylerr asked him. Gun couldn't help but look at his face, his last encounter was short-lived and he hadn't been able to register his face properly. He had unusually high cheekbones and an almost perfect jawline. His skin was perfectly tanned and sparkled when the sunlight shined on him.

Gun had to agree that this guy was conventionally handsome. But what bothered him were his eyes. He was staring at Gun, it seemed as if he was analysing him. He felt a tad bit uncomfortable because of the stares, he didn't like it when people silently judged him.

Gun noticed that he had left the question unanswered for too long. He quickly replied to him.

"Uh, I have a tutoring class here."

"Oh, me too!" Jaylerr's responded instantly. His response was quite instant. He grinned while answering. "Wait, that means you're my tutor." _I am?_ Gun was a bit surprised by the coincidence of him being already acquainted with his pupil. "I guess so."

"So...What should we start with?" Gun asked him. He had a sneaky smile on him and he didn't know how to interpret that. He had to stop himself from over analyzing the situation.

He moved forward and sat down on a chair next to Jaylerr. "I was thinking, Organic Chemistry..."

"That's great! I needed help in that."

Gun was a bit startled. Loud noises bothered him, especially if the noise was sudden. He smiled back at Jaylerr and pulled out the textbook he had borrowed from the library for this class. He waited for Jaylerr to take out a notebook to write down notes, but he sat there staring at Gun. "Umm, aren't you going to take notes."

"Oh yeah" Jaylerr grabbed the first notebook from his bag and flipped open to a new page. _He should use a new notebook._ Gun was a bit of an organisation freak and didn't like when notes got mixed up. As much as he wanted to point that out to Jaylerr, he refrained from doing so. He felt that if he said so , Jaylerr would think that he's a stuck-up control freak.

"So first let's start with classification of organic compounds..." within a few minutes Gun was completely engrossed in teaching. He had to agree, that there was something empowering about being able to teach others. Gun had unknowingly shifted the textbook from his table to Jaylerr's. he was leaning on the table while marking all the important parts and trying to explain a few concepts. He was pointing out a few compound structures to Jaylerr when he suddenly looked up.

His face was only inches away from his pupil who was staring right into his eyes. Jaylerr wasn't breathing and so wasn't Gun. They were both frozen. Gun had never been this close to another person. _Except Off._ Gun shifted his eyes down and realized what a big mistake he had made. He was staring directly at his lips. He immediately felt some carnal part of his brain giving him thoughts he shouldn't think of.

He felt his cheeks and ears burn up. He quickly moved back and continued teaching. He would regularly look up at Jaylerr, and would find that he was looking at Gun instead of taking notes. Gun ignored the glances and went on teaching until the school bell marked the end of his tutoring class.

"So, I hope you learnt something from today's class, we'll continue with aldehydes in the next class."

"I'll be looking forward to that." Jaylerr smiled at him. Gun couldn't help but feel that he was being flirted with but he quickly dismissed the idea. He smiled back at Jaylerr.

"Okay I'll see you day after tomorrow. Bye."

"Goodbye, Tutor _Gun."_

\------------------------------------------------

Gun ran out of the room. He had to get as far as possible from Jaylerr. He didn't like the proximity between them. He wasn't used to being this close to a person who wasn't his family or a friend. He was embarrassed. He had felt his cheeks blushing, and Jaylerr must have seen that. _Aghh why me?_ What was worse, were his thoughts.

He had never thought about another person in that way. Sure, he had imagined stuff with celebrities, but he was a teenager after all. But this was new. And he didn't like it. It made him feel vulnerable, and he wasn't ready for that.

His legs had suddenly gained newfound strength. He felt the adrenaline rush through his veins as he ran through the corridors. He rushed down the stairs, skipping two to three steps at a time. On the last step, he slipped. He braced himself as he stumbled and landed on his knees. Luckily, he didn't get hurt.

The fall brought him back to his senses. He waited as he calmed down. He got up on his feet and started walking. This time he walked at a reasonable pace and avoided get into another mishap. He realized that he may have been overthinking the entire situation. _Or were you?_ He really hated the internal monologue in his brain.

"Oh hello, Gun."

He looked up and found himself facing Ms. Jennie. "Umm, good afternoon, Ms. Jennie." he stopped himself in front of her.

"Well, what are you still doing in school?"

"I just wrapped up with the tutoring session."

"Wait, what? You had the session?"

"Uh, yes..."

"That's not possible, the student called and told me that he wasn't going to attend the session today due to some family problems."

"Huh?" Gun was very confused. A lot of questions were going through his brain. Why was Jaylerr in the room then? Why had he called himself his student? Who was his real student then?

"Yes, he will most probably join from the next session. Well now that the surprise is ruined, I should tell you who he is. His name is Jumpol." Ms. Jennie had a look of exasperation on her face. Things hadn't gone as per her plan and now the chances of her pairing to succeed were low.

"Oh okay. Thank you." Gun stood there as Ms. Jennie walked past him, towards the library. He felt confused, and a bit annoyed that Jaylerr had wasted his time. He could have spent that time doing something productive. He quickly moved on from the topic as he remembered the name that Ms. Jennie had mentioned. _Jumpol._ He had only been to this school for a couple and days and didn't know most of the people. Hence, it wasn't a surprise that he didn't know who this Jumpol was.

He was walking towards the gate when he saw New and Alice waving at him from across the street. He checked both sides of the road and quickly crossed. "Hey, Where were you?" Alice asked him immediately.

"Oh, I was talking to Ms. Jennie."

"What did she want?" New asked him.

"Nothing really, but like the weirdest thing happened."

"I can't wait to hear about it, but we should really find a bus if want to get to the mall in time." Alice had already started walking towards the bus stop. New and Gun looked at each other and shrugged. They quickly ran towards their friend who was already boarding the bus.

\------------------------------------------------

"Sooo... since you're new here, you HAVE to try this out." This was the twelfth time Alice said this to Gun. They had reached the mall three hours ago, and had gone to every single shop in the place, from clothing stores to book shops.

Right now, they were standing in front of the displayed items at a café. Alice had made it her life's goal to make Gun try out everything that was offered by the mall. They had already eaten from the street food carts outside but Alice wanted Gun to try out the desserts in this café.

"Oh my god, they crème brulee is not available." Alice was still adamant at making Gun eat all of her favourite desserts. "It's literally heaven, like there's nothing like it."

"We can have something else, I can try that out later."

"Ughh fine." Alice went back to staring at the desserts. New on the other hand had already ordered two chocolate pastries for himself. "Are you going to be able to eat that?" Gun was alarmed by the sight of two gigantic slices of chocolate cake, lathered in mocha buttercream. "Oh this is nothing. Usually I eat the entire cake." New was already moving towards an empty table with his food.

Gun and Alice finally ordered, Alice decided to go with a mint-chocolate sundae and an iced tea. Gun stared at his options and finally ordered a raspberry tart for himself.

They went towards New, who was already seated in a table near the entrance of the café. He gave us a nod as we sat down and went back to devouring his cake. "Calm down the food won't disappear." Alice joked. "No its just that I loooove this cake, there's nothing as good as chocolate." New smiled, showing his chocolate-covered brown teeth.

"Ewwww." All three of them started laughing, garnering a few judgmental stares from the other patrons. Gun was sitting close to the glass divider which separated them from the shoppers in the mall. He was observing the people walking by, an elderly couple, a mother and daughter, a few teenagers. He was about to turn and continue talking with his friends when he noticed something from the corner of his eye.

_Him._

It was Off. He was exiting the mall, and had a small bag in his hand. Gun wouldn't have noticed him walking by if it wasn't for his towering frame. He had a black hoodie on, on top of which he wore his leather jacket.

Gun turned around and pulled New from beside him and pointed at the exit. "Hey, who's that?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Him..."

Gun turned to see that Off had disappeared. _He must have left._

"Well, who is it?" it was Alice who asked. She was sitting opposite to Gun and New and was presently stuck to the glass divider. "Who is it?"

"He's gone, his name is Off. I met him in school today."

"Wait what's his name?"

"Off."

"Umm..." Alice looked towards New who gave her an unknowing shrug. "... there's no one called Off in our school, Gun. And I know everyone, like everyone."

"Uhh, he wears a leather jacket."

"Most of the kids in the city wear leather jackets, it's the trend right now."

"Okay..." Gun was confused. He was sure that he had met someone named. _Was it my imagination?_ Now that he thought about it, it was pretty weird that a stranger would let him rest on his shoulder. Did he dream all of it? Maybe it was his anxiety which made him imagine these things. _Great now I have to deal with hallucinations._

"where did you meet this...Off?" Alice had a curious look on her face. He turned his head to see New staring at him too. "You have chocolate all over your face."

"Oh, okay thanks."

"Oi, stop avoiding the question." Alice caught on to Gun's tactic.

"You remember how I was sleeping during the last few periods."

"Yeah, in that shoddy room you found."

"yeah... so I wasn't really alone."

Gun heard New gasp, and saw a piece of cake falling from his mouth. "you slept with someone?"

"NO, well yes, why do you make it sound it like I had sex with someone."

"Did you?"

"NO! definitely not. It was just that there was someone else in the room and we sorta hung out." Gun chose not to tell his friends about his mental breakdown. He didn't want them to think he was a nutjob. Most of the people in his life would not believe that he had mental health problems and would label him as a pretentious attention-seeker. So he had stopped telling others about it. He built up a seemingly normal exterior and would deal with his problems on his own.

"What do you mean hung out?"

"Like..."

Alice and New were staring at him, expecting an answer but Gun wasn't prepared with one. He didn't know how to explain it without spilling everything. But before he could open his mouth someone came up to their and table and spoke.

"Oh, hey New."

Gun looked at the stranger standing in front of them and then turned to the person he had addressed. New had turned completely pale, his mouth was wide open and he had stopped moving. Suddenly, Gun felt Alice's leg kicking New beside him. That brought him back from his trance. New slowly gulped his food down and replied.

"Hi, Tay..."

\------------------------------------------------


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING* : Physical Abuse

Gun had never seen a person turn this pale so quickly. To be fair, New was already very pale, but his skin had a pinkish tinge to them. But when New saw Tay, his face was comparable to a corpse.

"Hi Tay..."

"HII TAAAAAYYY..." Alice had already intervened into the conservation. She must have felt the discomfort radiating from New's direction. Gun understood how close New and Alice were at this moment. New didn't even look at her, and Alice was already at his rescue. Gun felt slightly jealous at the moment, but he suppressed the thought. His priority at the moment was to see this 'Tay' was.

"Hey, Alice. What's up?"

"Nothing much, we're just showing Gun the sights that our humble city has to offer."

Tay finally noticed the little guy sitting beside New and Alice. "Oh, hi, I'm Tay."

"Hi, I'm Gun, I just moved here."

"Well, you got the nicest people in school showing you around so I think that your time here will be great." Gun saw that New had resumed eating his cake. The blood had returned to his face, but he still looked very awkward. It was a bit weird for Gun to see this. As far as Gun had seen, New was confident and quite upfront. This type of shyness was a bit strange.

"P'Tay, you left me alone... oh, who are your friends." A little girl had waddled up to their table. She started pulling on Tay's shirt as soon as she came in contact with him. She was a cute kid. She was wearing a school uniform, similar to theirs', and had two tiny pigtails on her head.

"This P'Alice, P'Gun and... _P'New_." Everyone on the table had noticed the sudden change in tone when Tay said New's name. New stuffed larger pieces of cake as soon as he heard his name. Gun was astonished by the amount of cake that New could fill in his mouth.

"Ohh, who's this beautiful angel with you Tay?" Alice quickly diverted everyone's attention from the cannibalistic New.

"This is my little sister, N'Muk. Muk greet all of them." Muk must have been an obedient child as she went on to greet everyone. They greeted her back, even New who had raised his head to look at Tay's sister.

"Aww, P'New is sooo cute." The little girl quickly left her brother and walked towards New. "His skin is like Snow White."

New's demeanour suddenly changed. The awkwardness disappeared from his page as he let the little girl sit on his lap. "Well, you are prettier than any princess I have seen before." New patted Muk's hair and started playing with her. He looked at ease. New must have had experience with children, because both of them were suddenly in a world of their own, playing games while singing Disney songs.

Muk completely ignored her brother's presence. She was busy playing with her new favourite P'. Tay on the other hand was staring intently at both New and Muk, it was difficult to discern who exactly was he looking at. He had a subtle smile on his face as he watched the two of them play.

Gun noticed that New had forgotten about Tay's sudden arrival. New looked happy while playing silly games with the little girl. "Muk, we have to go now, or grandma will get angry."

"NOOOOO, I want to stay with P'New."

"Muk, I think you should listen to your brother, you don't want your grandmother to get angry, do you?" New tried to convince the girl before she could throw a tantrum.

"Ughh, fine, but we will meet you again P'New, won't we?"

"Yes, we will."

Both Tay and New answered at the same time. They turned to see one another. New's shyness was slowly creeping back into him. Alice was about to initiate the goodbyes when suddenly, Tay spoke.

"You have something on your face."

New started fidgeting around his face, trying to remove any remnants of food on his face. "Is it gone?" he was successful in removing most of it but a huge smudge of icing was stuck to side of New's lips.

Before Gun or Alice could point it out to their friend, Tay had already taken a step forward.

"Wait, let me."

Tay reached out his hand and gently touched New's cheek. The touch was delicate, as if New was a piece of china that could shatter at any moment. Tay slowly swiped off the remains of the food. His eyes were not on the food, instead they stared directly into New's eyes. New, on the other hand, was stuck in a trance, peering into the eyes of the boy in front of him.

Gun mouth was wide open. He and Alice were shocked, to say the least, at this sudden act by Tay. Both of them were quiet, they let the course of events play out in front of them. They were looking at their friend for what seemed to be a minute when they suddenly heard a cough.

"I thought grandma would get angry if we didn't leave now." Muk had a sly smile on her face.

All of them were broken out of their trance. Tay quickly took a step back and New shifted his chair towards Gun. Alice avoided any eye contact and started sipping on her tea while giggling to herself. Even Gun shyly went back to eating his tart.

"So, I guess we'll go now." Tay spoke up.

"yeah..." New whispered, but everyone heard him.

"Bye, guys."

"Bye."

At the last moment Tay turned to the frozen statue beside Gun.

"Bye, New, I'll see you around."

\------------------------------------------------

The next week was quite uneventful. Gun attended all his classes like he was supposed to. He was getting into the rhythm again. His shifting had left him a bit distraught, since it was the middle of the year, and the coursework of his new school was quite different from his previous ones.

He spent the most of his week trying to compile all the notes for his different subject. He had opted for the same classes as his previous school- Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and English. The only difference was that this school didn't have vacancies in the Computer Science class.

"You could opt for Psychology." New and Alice had accompanied him after class to pick out his options.

"Umm, It's interesting but it'll be a lot of work, and it won't help me with my college course." Gun wanted to get into the top Aeronautics course in the country. It didn't help that it was one of the most competitive college programs to get into. Gun not only had to have perfect scores in the sciences and math, but also in English and physical education.

"I don't have time to do something difficult, I need an easy subject that I can ace without much work." New and Alice scanned through the list of options in front of them.

"you could try Visual Arts." it was New who spoke first.

"Yeah, I've heard that their teacher gives everyone a full grade as long as they submit the work." Alice added further. "and like its most just some painting and like pottery and shit."

Gun wasn't against the idea. He liked drawing. Mostly he would sketch out clothes and accessories that he would see on Instagram, but he had his own designs too. Unfortunately, he had stopped sketching years ago. But now that he thought about it, if he took Visual Arts, he would be obligated to continue with his hobbies. It would be a win-win situation.

"I guess it's the most practical choice."

He notified the administration that he was opting for Visual Arts and they gave him his course material and class schedule. The material provided was quite minimal, it consisted of a single textbook of eighty pages.

Gun skimmed through the textbook as they walked towards their next class. It was more of a pamphlet than a full-fledged textbook. Along with the class schedule, he had also received an updated class list that he had to pass on to his teacher. He only had twelve other classmates. As he read through their names, his eyes stopped at a specific one.

_Jumpol Adulkittiporn._

He had asked around about him, and most of his classmates told him that he had not been seen in school since the last week. Gun was curious, as to why one would leave for an entire week. _I guess I have to ask him when he returns._ Jumpol had not attended any of the tutoring classes and at this point Gun was going to tell Ms. Jennie about it.

But what really irked Gun was that another person had supposedly disappeared from school. Jaylerr was nowhere to be found. He was annoyed when he learnt that Jaylerr had lied to him and wasted his time. But now that he had thought about it, he was curious to know what Jaylerr's side of the story was. Gun didn't want to assume things about people he had only met a few time.

He pondered on the topic, until he reached his homeroom. It was the last class of the day and they were waiting for Ms. Godji. One thing that was really the highlight of his day, was Ms. Godji's outfit for the day. She never wore the same outfit more than once. It was always something flashy, colourful and overall unearthly.

As Ms. Godji entered their class today, Gun couldn't help but look at her. She was a wearing a full length Victorian Gown, included with ruffles and a corset.

"Wow."

Gun had to agree with Alice, Ms. Godji looked ethereal. He planned on asking her where she got these outfits later.

Ms. Godji continued the class, ignoring the shocked faces of her pupils. At the end of the class Ms. Godji called Gun to her desk.

"I was going through your files, Gun, and it seems like your previous school has not passed on your college application forms, I would suggest that you go to the library and fill them up. You can submit them to Ms. Jennie."

"Okay Ms. Godji." Gun was furious. He spent hours filling up those forms. He had applied to almost twenty colleges and each one had its own unique application form. _Ughh I hate adults_. Gun ran to the library with the empty applications that Ms. Godji had given to him. He found a seat in a relatively empty part of the library and began filling up his forms.

It took him some time, but Gun finally finished up his applications and gave them to Ms. Jennie who was busy binge-watching a K-drama.

He let out a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the library. He looked down on his watch and froze. _6.28 PM_. Gun ran towards his house. He was in serious trouble as of now. His parents had been relatively normal through the last week. They had completely avoided talking about their fight. Gun wasn't surprised, it was what they did every time.

Gun reached his house and checked his watch. _6.46 PM_. He didn't know why he was running, he was going to get scolded anyway. But he felt they would get angrier as the time passed.

He walked into his house, fully knowing that he was going to get a strict scolding. But what he wasn't expecting was to be slapped as he walked in. He fell down due to the force of the slap, tears were in his eyes. He looked up to find his father standing over him, with a belt in his hand. His father looked at the tears rolling down Gun's face as he raised the belt and said to him,

"Stop crying."

\------------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> Sorry for uploading late, I have a lot of projects and assignments. I'll upload more often once I'm done with this bullshit hehe. Also can we talk about how cute offgun were in yesterday's live I'm dead Ahhhhhh


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TRIGGER WARNING**
> 
> Physical Abuse, Mentions of Suicide

Gun's body was numb.

The belt hit his back every other second. In between he was showered with kicks to his back. It was his parent's favourite spot to hit him. The back was always covered and no outsider would get to know what Gun had to go through. Any bruises on the face would lead to suspicion.

The leather had bruised his skin. Or at least that's what Gun thought. He didn't know anymore. His body was lifeless. He let his father release his anger on him. He knew that if he retaliated it would anger him more.

Gun remembered the first time his father had come home drunk. Gun was being beaten by his mother for scoring low in a test. In retrospect, he couldn't he remember how much he scored. His mother had always been violent and beat him up whenever he did something wrong. But it was his father who usually would come back home and calm her down and save Gun.

But that day was different.

Gun was with his mother in the living room, when suddenly his father entered through the door.

"What has he done this time?"

His father must have seen his mother slapping and screaming at Gun. "Have you seen his grades? We spend so much in sending him to a good school, on his tutors and textbooks, and this ungrateful bastard couldn't even give us a good result." his mother thrust his test paper into his father's hand. He scanned the sheet as he slowly walked towards Gun. As he got closer Gun could smell the alcohol reeking off of him.

He had hoped his father would just scold him, but he was very wrong. That day was the first time he had been beaten by his father. It wasn't the last though. As his father's drinking problem got worse, he was punished more often. His father required only a single negative comment from his mother and he would rain fire down on Gun.

"STOP CRYING."

His father's screams had broken his trance. He was back in the living room, his body being mutilated by the whips of the belt. Gun wasn't crying anymore. Tears left his eyes in response to the pain in his back, but his mind was numb. He didn't make a single sound. He bore on the attacks. His father occasionally grabbed him by the hair and looked at his face. But there was nothing to see.

Gun was empty.

\------------------------------------------------

He lay on the floor of his room. His father had dragged his body up the stairs and left him on the ground. Gun didn't move for a while, if his father caught him doing anything but sleeping he would begin hitting him again. Unfortunately, Gun had learnt this the hard way.

When he was sure that his parents had gone to sleep, Gun raised his body into a sitting position. The wounds on his back were flaring up. He was in pain. But being in pain for such a long time makes a person numb, both physically and mentally.

He got up on his feet and wiped his tears. _I need to get out._ Gun was going to be in a lot of trouble if his parents found him missing. But he didn't care anymore. For the first time in a while he was happy. He had friends who liked and trusted him. He had teachers who appreciated his efforts. Heck, he was in a city that he didn't hate. But his parents had to destroy it for him. If he stayed any longer in this house, the numbness would take over his body and he would be nothing more than a bag of bones.

He walked towards his window and opened it. He hadn't thought of his destination, all he knew was that he had to get out. He climbed over the window sill on to the slanted roof of the first floor of his new house. He looked into the his parent's room, which was beside his. _The lights are switched off. Good. I can leave now._ Gun jumped down into the garden. He scraped his knee while falling, but the pain wasn't any greater than the one he already felt.

Gun quietly sneaked out of his house and then slowly walked towards the end of his street. As he walked, he increased his speed. In a few minutes he was sprinting down the streets. The streets were empty. It must have been past midnight, and the atmosphere was cold.

He didn't know in what direction he was running. His feet had a mind of their own. He ran for what seemed a while, when he suddenly stopped. He was on a bridge. It connected the two towns which constituted the city. There weren't any cars on the bridge so he walked in the middle of the road. When he reached the center of the bridge, he went near the edge and looked down.

Unlike the bridge, the road underneath it was a freeway. A huge number of cars, trucks and bikes passed the bridge. He stared at each and every vehicle passing by. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, he just needed a distraction. He stared at the vehicles for a while until they started blurring together into a single beam of flashing light.

Gun didn't know why but he was crying again. There was no one there to see him, to judge him, so he let it all out. He was loud. He wailed and screamed and let his emotions flow through him. He had been keeping it all in for a long time. Slowly, the crying turned into laughter. He was laughing at himself, his life, his situation. Gun didn't know whether he was going mad or not. He just did what he felt he had to do in order to calm himself down. He leaned over the edge of the bridge and kept on laughing, cynically.

"Are you going to kill yourself?"

Gun stopped laughing. He turned around to see a boy a standing in front of him. A boy he hadn't expected to see in a thousand years.

"Off."

"Hello, Gun. So, are you going to kill yourself?"

"Nope." Gun scoffed. "I'm just hanging around."

"Can I hang around too?"

"Sure, why not. It's a free country."

Off moved ahead until he was standing right next Gun. Gun had not noticed the immense height difference between the two of them, the first two times they had met.

"Have you tried it though?" Off whispered beside him.

"What?"

"Committing suicide."

"Yeah, four or five times over the years." Off was unfazed by Gun's answer. Maybe he had a similar experience. "But every single time I would find a stupid reason to live and stop myself at the last moment. By the third or fourth time, I realised something."

"What?"

"It doesn't matter whether you kill yourself. Eventually everyone will move on and forget you. If you think that they will be affected by your death, you're flattering yourself." Gun realised what he was saying was harsh, but it as what he believed in.

"But don't you want it to end?" Gun could feel Off's voice shake. He could understand where he was coming from.

"I don't believe in running from your problems."

"Isn't that what you're doing right now."

Gun turned to look at Off who had a smirk on his face.

"I'm not running, I'm simply trying to distract myself."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it. But if it's a distraction you're looking for I know a place we could go to."

"Why should I go with you?"

"Do you have anywhere else to go?"

"Fair enough."

Gun was intrigued by the boy beside him. He would appear and disappear from his life at his own will, but whenever he was beside Gun, Gun was at ease.

Gun turned so that he was facing Off. "Lead the way."

Out of nowhere, Off grabbed Gun's hand.

"Let's go then."

Off ran on to the road, with Gun's hand in his. They laughed while running. They looked like they had escaped an asylum. But Gun didn't care. He had trapped his emotions for a long time, and finally he was able to release them. Usually, he would never let anyone see him behave this way. But Off's presence had an effect on him. He felt understood. He felt vulnerable.

He felt free.

_\------------------------------------------------_

Gun was pretty sure that both of them were mad. Only a minute ago they were talking about death, and now they were running across the city, laughing their guts out.

Gun followed Off until they reached the edge of the nearby woods. Gun stopped before they could enter the forest.

"Are you planning on abducting me?"

"Nope."

"Killing me?" Gun let out a dramatic sigh, as if he had uncovered a huge plot.

Off smirked. "You said you needed a distraction. There is one in there."

"Inside the creepy dark forest? How nice."

"You can choose not to go."

"First tell me, where are you taking me?"

"It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Well, how will I know that you're not trying to harvest my organs."

"Firstly, if I was trying to harvest your organs, I would drug you first and then take you to the location..."

"Very creepy, but go on."

"Secondly, do you trust me?"

Gun hesitated. He should have said no immediately. But there was something about Off that made Gun feel adventurous. He knows that he shouldn't trust a complete stranger, but at this point, he had made many rash decisions already, one more wouldn't hurt him.

"Not one bit." Gun took a step forward. The space between them had reduced to nothing. They were close to each other. There faces were only a few inches apart. Gun could feel Off's breathe leaving his chest. For a moment, their eyes met. Gun found the same emptiness he had seen before.

He didn't know what came over him, but he grabbed Off's hand. Off flinched but he didn't remove Gun's grasp. Instead he tightened his grip on the little boy. He let their fingers intertwine, as he escorted Gun into the woods.

_\------------------------------------------------_

After a short walk, they reached their destination. To Gun's surprise, it wasn't a creepy cabin in the woods. Instead Off had taken him to a deserted park.

"Is this your idea of a distraction?"

Off didn't answer his question. He took Gun towards the swing set, where he let go of his hand and sat down on a swing. Gun followed his lead and sat down on the swing beside his.

"I come here when I need an escape." Gun looked at Off, who suddenly spoke. "No one visits this place... so no one can find us."

"I think I should tell you that my parents wont pay a penny if you kidnap me." Gun joked.

"Why do you keep on insisting that I want to kidnap you?"

"Gee, I don't know, maybe the fact that you led to me to a probably-haunted park in the middle of the woods at three in the morning."

Their laughter echoed through the woods. Gun considered himself to have a shitty sense of humor. Either his jokes would be too technical or too dark for people to understand. With time he had stopped making such comments, but seeing Off laugh made him happy. Gun waited for the laughter to die down.

"Why do you need an escape?"

Off opened his mouth to say something but immediately stopped. Gun realised that he had asked a very personal question and Off might not be comfortable answering him. _Way to go Gun._

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Do you like swinging, Gun? Like swinging so high up, that you feel that you can touch the sky."

"I've never tried that. Usually, I try to stay close to the ground. You know, so that I don't get hurt."

Off suddenly stopped swinging. He turned to face Gun, who was idly sitting on the swing. "What? You've never tried that?"

"Nope. Unlike most people, I value my safety and would not want to be hurled onto the ground at forty kilometers per hour."

Off got off his swing and positioned himself behind Gun. "Well, I'm not leaving this place until you've made a full rotation on the swing."

"No, I don't want to do tha....Offfffff" Off had pushed Gun with a huge force and now he was in motion.

"OH MY GOD, OFF, IF I FUCKING FALL OFF THIS SWING, I WILL MURDER YOU...."

Off continued to push Gun's swing so that now he was swinging up to a third of the swing set's height. Gun on the other hand was holding on to the cables like his life depended on it.

"Just calm down, Gun."

Gun was definitely not in the mood to calm down. But hearing Off's voice had an effect of it's own. Gun stopped screaming and started loosening his grip on the cables. He let his beating heart and burning lungs relax.

"Now that you are relaxed, I want to you to slowly open your eyes." Gun was hesitant at first. He was too scared to open his eyes. "Have courage, Gun, and you will not regret it." And he surely did not.

He opened his eyes and saw the magnificent sky above. He wasn't that big a fan of starry night skies, but there was something different about this one. It wasn't the stars and the moon that caught his attention. But, it was the fact that the sky was so much closer to him. As he swung back down, he passed Off, who had a wide grin.

Gun moved ahead once more. As he gained height and speed, his body felt lighter. He felt as if the tether between him and this world had been severed. When he reached the highest point, the swing paused for a moment. In that moment, everything slowed down for Gun. He faced the open sky. He understood what Off meant by 'touching the sky'. The sky had moved closer to Gun and it almost felt like that he could just reach out and pluck a star from the night sky.

"You like it, don't you?"

Gun didn't reply. It wasn't that he didn't like the activity. He thought it was the best thing he had done in a while. But, Gun couldn't speak. His eyes had watered up due to the emotions that were running through his body.

Off must have felt something was wrong, because he immediately stopped the swing with all his strength. Gun slid of the swing, as his grasp on the cables weakened. He fell backwards onto the ground, taking Off down with him.

"Gun..." Neither of them tried to get up. They stayed on the cold ground, with Gun's tiny frame on Off. "...Why are you crying?"

" I-I feel ecstatic." Off was about to ask him why but then Gun continued. "the last few days were going perfectly well, I finally felt that I had a normal life... but something happened today... and I just feel broken." tears were running down Gun's cheeks. "I thought that every thing would go back to being shit, that I would lose every good thing that I had encountered here... but when I was on that swing, I felt something."

Gun turned to face Off, and found him staring directly at Gun. In normal circumstances, Gun would get shy and turn away. But that night, he had lost all of his inhibitions. "I felt that I belong, Off. Every single day, I feel that I am a mistake, that I don't belong in this world. But being on that swing, feeling the blood rush through my veins as I got closer and closer to the sky, for the first time I felt that I am not a mistake, that I was meant to be here... with you."

Gun didn't know why he was telling Off all of this. In front of Off, he didn't feel the fear of judgement. He felt that a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. All his inhibitions and doubts had been erased. And maybe, the lack of inhibitions was the reason, Gun did the next thing.

Gun moved his head forward and paused. Off's lips were mere centimeters away from Gun's. but Gun's eyes were not on his lips, instead they were staring directly into Off's eyes. They had been empty before, but today they had a glow to them that Gun hadn't seen before.

When Off did not show any signs of moving away, Gun slowly moved forward and placed his lips on his. Their lips touched, but neither moved. It was a gentle kiss. Off's hand moved up and cupped Gun's blushing cheeks. He didn't force himself on Gun, nor did he try to move away. As much as Gun needed that kiss, it was Off who required it more. The kiss, sparked in Off, emotions that he hadn't felt in a long time.

The both of them stayed like that for a while, in each other's embrace, neither of them wanting to let go of the other, fearing that that they might lose this moment of temporary ecstasy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally offgunnn!! Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)
> 
> Also can't wait to watch mommy taste with P'Jennie, its gonna be epic!


	8. Chapter Eight

Regret.

Pure regret.

Gun had no way of understanding why he did what he did. His brain was in a flurry, and his emotions of everywhere. Last night's events slowly came back to him when he woke up the next morning. _My first kiss._ Gun facepalmed himself. He regretted everything, the escape, the bridge, the kiss, the alcohol. _Wait what? When did I have alcohol?_

Gun didn't remember having any alcohol yesterday, but it was obvious he did. He had a strong stench that radiated from him and a massive hangover which racked his brain. This was the first time he got drunk. He had tried alcohol before, when his parents would let him take a sip or two on special occasions. He never had a happening social life and hence never got to go to parties where teenagers drank their asses off.

"Ughh I hate myself."

He switched off his alarm, that had been blaring for the last fifteen minutes, and got up before he could drift back into sleep. "7.25, fuck I'm late." He begrudgingly got out of bed and stretched his arms and legs. His body hurt when he tried to move, especially his legs. The intense running had taken a toll on his legs. They were sore and made walking excruciatingly painful.

He considered staying back home, so that he could rest and heal, but then he remembered something. His parents would not appreciate him staying back, and especially considering their current moods, Gun wasn't very eager to stay at home either. Unwillingly, he dragged himself to the washroom, and stood in front of the mirror.

His lips were swollen. He slowly moved his hands to touch his lips. Gun had many insecurities, especially regarding his body, but his lips were one feature of his which he was proud of. He had plump, baby- pink lips, which were more defined most girls' lips let alone boys'. But right now as he brushed over them, he felt how bruised they were. His last few memories were of his kiss, but that kiss had been very gentle, not that rough that it could bruise his lips.

He was sure that he had returned home after visiting that park in the middle of the woods with Off, but now he was doubting himself. He tried to rack his brains but he was too mentally exhausted to put any effort into remembering what had happened.

Gun decided that he would take a quick shower and then head to school. He removed all the articles of clothing he was wearing. He slept in the same clothes he was wearing last night. Thankfully, they weren't too dirty otherwise his parents would get suspicious.

He removed his shirt to reveal his bare chest. His body was covered with marks of the belt that his father had used to beat him. The marks had already started to disappear. His father made sure to hit him with only moderate force so that it wouldn't make any permanent marks on his body. But they were strong enough to make his body flare up in pain every time he tried to move.

He moved his hands across each and every mark that covered his body. Starting from his stomach, which had the least number of bruises since he had instinctively gone into a foetal position. Years of abuse had made him develop many different instincts. He would sleep in a foetal position so that he wouldn't get badly hurt, if one of his parents decided to punish him while he was sleeping.

Over the years, he had also developed a fear of people touching him, even if they were close. The thought that someone would suddenly hit him from behind constantly bugged him. It made him paranoid to some extent. This paranoia led him to learn self defense techniques which he could use if someone would suddenly attack him. But he had never gotten around to defending himself in front of him parents. If he would they would get angrier and could overpower him. 

The only time he'd gotten to use his 'self defense skills' recently was when he had encountered Off on the first day of school. The thought of him kicking the other in the crotch brought a smile on Gun's face.

As he moved his hands higher up, the number of marks started to increase. They flared up when Gun put too much pressure. But he didn't flinch his pain tolerance was very high, and moderate amounts of pain didn't garner any reaction from him. "Well, these are going to take a while to disappear." Gun sighed. He was about to stop exploring his body when he noticed a big fat bruise on his elbow.

It was dark blue in colour and looked recent. It couldn't have been from his father's beating, his father wouldn't hit him in any part of his body which was visible. As he circled the mark on his elbow, thought slowly started reappearing in his mind. They were faint memories, but at this point Gun was satisfied with knowing anything about the events that had transpired yesterday.

_\------------------------------------------------_

_A few hours back_

The kiss didn't last for more than a few minutes. Both Gun and Off naturally moved their lips away from each other, and instead chose to stay in each other's arms. Both of them looked towards the night sky. Gun rested his head on Off's upper arm, which he had extended for Gun. Gun lay on the ground with his hands folded over his stomach. Slowly the awkwardness started to build up inside Gun as the effects

"You know, that was my first kiss."

"Was it good?"

"I don't really have anything to compare it to. Was I any good?"

"I don't know either, that was my first kiss too."

Gun turned his head towards the boy who was holding him in his arms. "I-I'm so sorry. Shit, I didn't mean to..." Off's hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shushed Gun. Off's finger rested on Gun's lips, which made them quiver.

"I don't mind this being my first kiss."

Gun was more than relieved. He let out a sigh and turned his head to face the sky.

"How did you find this place?"

Gun was trying to avoid Off's gaze, which seemed to be fixated on him. He didn't like holding eye contact for too long.

"I found this place while playing with my cousin, it was supposed to be a park for a residential building but for some reason the actual building was never constructed."

"You're close with your cousins?"

"I used to be." Off's tone changed when he said that. There was a lingering sadness in his voice. He must have liked playing with his siblings. Gun wouldn't know how that felt like. His parents moved a lot and he met his extended family only once in a while. They weren't sociable either, most of the fights that were initiated in his family were due to his parents. Most of his family had either cut relations with them or would actively give them the cold shoulder.

Gun didn't want to intrude to much into Off's personal matters. There were some things which were better left unsaid. Gun could see the discomfort slowly creeping into Off's face. They should leave before Off's mood is completely ruined. Gun got up on his feet and dusted off his pants. He extended his hand to the onlooker on the ground.

"Come on, let's go somewhere else."

Off hesitated, but he went on to hold Gun's hand anyway. A wave of déjà vu hit them, but this time it was Gun who was leading Off. When they were finally out of the woods, Gun realised that he didn't have a clue where they were. He had been too absent minded to notice where they were going. He hadn't been to this part of the city before and was completely lost.

"You don't know where you're going? Do you?"

Gun didn't want to embarrass himself by agreeing to Off. They were walking on a completely desolate road which led to God knows where. Gun heard Off chuckle behind him. He was pulled to stop by the taller.

"See, while I would love to visit the mental asylum with you, I would prefer to visit it when the sun is still out."

"Asylum?"

Off pointed at something behind Gun. Gun turned around and saw a green sign board with words written on it. _Correction Facility for the Mentally Disabled--10km._ Gun could feel the blood rushing to his face. He was completely humiliated. He had to leave before Off could see his tomato-coloured face. He spun to his right so that he could avoid looking at Off who was on his left. What he hadn't realised was that Off had moved to the right as well. Gun ran directly into Off. The impact made them fall once again.

"You seem to love falling on top of me."

Gun's face was directly on Off's chest. He couldn't help but notice how muscular he was. Gun could figure out that Off was thin but his actual body was covered by the layers of hoodies, jackets and shirts he wore. But now that Gun lay directly on top of him, he could feel his chest muscles move as he breathed. He could even hear his heartbeat, which was beating fast, very fast.

The shyness returned to Gun. He tried to move himself off Off, but he had forgotten how big a klutz he was. Gun wanted to place his hand on the ground, so that he could move himself, but instead his hand landed on Off's biceps. Gun slipped as he tried to get up. Somehow, he landed further up on Off's body. Gun's elbow had hit the asphalt road and it was throbbing now. But he couldn't concentrate on that. His face was exactly above Off's.

Gun could see that Off was smiling. His shyness was about to reach its limit, when he suddenly moved his eyes to meet Off's. the insecurities vanished when Gun looked into Off's kind eyes. Off suddenly spoke up.

"Hey..."

_\------------------------------------------------_

Gun was feeling exhausted because of the sudden overflow of memories. He was experiencing severe second-hand embarrassment. His endeavours had landed him in a very confusing situation. He wasn't accustomed to such things happening in his life. He had an extremely mundane life, with almost no drama whatsoever.

"Aaaaaah, I hate myself." Gun hit himself in the head. He wanted to punish himself for his stupid actions. But he immediately stopped banging his head when he felt a stinging headache. "Oh Lord, why me?"

He proceeded to take a shower. Only a hot shower could save him at this moment. He turned on the shower and let the scalding water rain upon him. His bruises hurt when the water touched his skin, but his brain was too numb to register anything. He had read somewhere that people who take long showers with hot water are usually extremely lonely people, and the hot water provides the warmth which is absent in their life. And that is what Gun needed. He needed the hot water to envelope him with its warmth, so that he could forget about reality, even if it's just for a few seconds.

When he was done taking a shower Gun quickly dressed himself. He looked at the time on his alarm clock. _7:50. SHIT._ Gun had barely ten minutes to make it to school. His school had an extremely strict latecomers policy, wherein if you're late you are immediately sent back home. He ran out of his house, making sure that he avoids his parents.

Thankfully, his new home was near his school. He reached his school exactly at 8 o'clock. While he was walking towards his classroom, he noticed a change in the school decorations. There were several banners and posters which adorned the halls of the school. All of them notified Gun of the upcoming Inter-school football championship that the school was hosting. By the amount of pomp and show, he concluded that it was a big deal for the school.

He reached class just in time. Everyone was already seated and anticipating the entry of the teacher. He quickly walked towards his desk, trying to avoid the multiple stares that came his way. When he sat down he was immediately questioned by New.

"Where were you? We tried calling you but your phone was switched off."

"I forgot to put my phone on charge yesterday." It was a half-truth. He had found his phone in downstairs in the morning. It must have fallen from his hands when the incident happened. _The incident._ He felt a rush of agony flowing through his pain. His friends must have seen it, because New suddenly stopped questioning him.

"Gun." It was Alice who spoke. "Are you okay? You don't seem fine." Gun contemplated whether or not he should tell his friends. But before his mouth could react, his thoughts flooded in. _You don't want to be labelled as the pretentious attention-seeker, do you? They won't help you. You think that they will swoop in and solve all your problems. You just met them last week. Remember that. They will think that you're lying, just being another attention-seeker. Don't burden them with YOUR problems._

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

They didn't look convinced, but Gun had already turned away. His cold reply was a signal for them to move on from this topic.

"So, I've been to ask you both... would you maybe want to volunteer for the tournament."

Both Alice and Gun turned to face New.

"It will be a nice experience for all of us."

"What do you mean 'volunteer'?" Gun wasn't aware of the intricacies that were involved in organising a tournament.

"I mean like... you know helping out and stuff."

New wasn't a person who was keen on sports. Neither were Alice and Gun. They were only focused on academics and non-athletic extracurriculars. It was unusual, that New would suggest this out of nowhere. All of them had quite busy schedules, New most of all. Lord knows how many extracurriculars that guy has. Volunteering would mean extra work, and they weren't even sure what that would entail. But before Gun could voice his reluctance, Alice spoke.

"Why do you suddenly want to volunteer for this? Its not something we usually do."

New looked like he was struggling to give an answer. He thought for a moment and replied.

"I just think that it may good look on our college applications, you know."

"Hmmm."

Alice wasn't convinced, and so wasn't Gun.

"Guys, just think about it. I really don't want to volunteer alone."

Before anyone could say anything, Gun suddenly raised his hand.

"May I go to the washroom?"

Gun quickly ran out of his classroom. In the rush to get to school, Gun had forgotten to answer nature's call. He ran towards the nearest washroom and relieved himself.

He left the washroom and wandered for a bit. He wasn't really eager to go back to his class and have another conversation. Who knows, they might divert back to the topic of his well-being. He felt exhausted, although he was sure that he had gotten at least a few hours of sleep. Furthermore, he was angry at himself, for losing control last night. He could only imagine what Off thought of him. _Most probably he thinks that I'm a deranged psycho._

"I don't think that you're a deranged psycho."

Gun froze. He turned to see the boy in question standing in front of him.

"You know, sometimes you think out loud."

Gun could feel the embarrassment creeping in. Had he really just said what he was thinking.

"Hi."

"Hey, Gun."

There was a slight awkwardness between them. Off stood very close to Gun. Gun was shocked that he hadn't heard him come up behind him. Both of them struggled to think of anything to say. Gun secretly hoped that Off wouldn't mention last night's escapade. He would die from the shame if he did. Off must have been psychic because he clearly did not show any intention of mentioning it. Instead he looked around trying to find a way to fill this awkward silence. Finally, Gun noticed that Off's eyes landed on the poster on the wall.

"Will you be going for the tournament?"

"I don't know yet. What about you?"

"Yeah... I sort of have to."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm in the school team."

"Oh,really."

"Yeah, I told you about it last night."

Gun's worst fear had come true. How could he tell Off that he didn't remember anything and that he wasn't in his right mind.

"About that, last ni..."

The bell interrupted Gun's question. He could hear the students leaving the classrooms to head to their lockers. He should return too. Otherwise Alice and New would get suspicious.

"I need to go. The team has a meeting."

Off spoke before Gun could say anything. He had stepped back a few inches, leaving an empty space between them.

"Oh ok. Bye."

"Bye."

Gun was turning around to leave when Off suddenly spoke again.

"... and Gun, I hope that you decide to attend the game. It would mean a lot to me."

With that Off walked away, leaving Gun speechless and with butterflies in his stomach.

_\------------------------------------------------_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note:
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the longer chapters! I have been a bit distracted lately with work and all. Let me know about your thoughts on the storyline till now. Also would you all be interested in reading an offgun (or taynew hehe) one-shot? I'm thinking of writing one as a break from this dark-ass story hehe. 
> 
> PS was I the only one who fell off the chair when the ToL teaser was released asajdhkjhkahfkh


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